Today the "rule of law" signifies an idea of governance by law, and government held accountable to law. It suggests equal access for all to justice through effective courts, and assumes a set of fundamental personal rights given full protection under law. Few documents in the western tradition are more richly symbolic and more foundational for this tradition of rights and the rule of law than Magna Carta.

In celebration of the 800^th anniversary of Magna Carta, the University of Minnesota Law Library has digitized its year-long exhibit, "Magna Carta, 800 Years: Rights and the Rule of Law," and created a virtual showcase for its premier collection of early printed editions of Magna Carta, the earliest of which dates to 1514. Drawn from the treasures of the Library's Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection, the exhibit features over seventy-five works that reflect and illuminate the deep influence of Magna Carta on the Anglo-American legal tradition.

Viewed through cases, texts and ideas that were shaped by Magna Carta, the exhibit traces the document's impact on the development of rights and the rule of law in England and early America, and its emergence on a global stage. Through the exhibit we invite visitors to explore the history, challenges and promise of Magna Carta, rights and the rule of law, in its first eight hundred years.

The library would like to thank Associate Dean Joan Howland and Dean David Wippman for their generous support and encouragement of this project.